2021

Third and last year of the project - most important activities and results

On November 13, 2020 the HOMEE Project held the “Emerging challenges for mega-events in Heritage-rich Cities during the COVID-19 era” workshop (both in Pafos, Cyprus, and online). This workshop extended the discussion regarding the draft “Charter for Mega-events in Heritage-rich Cities”, including the heritage and mega-event issues that emerged during the 2020 pandemic. Androula Vassiliou (Former European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth and current Vice President of Europa Nostra) gave the welcoming remarks (click here to watch).

In early 2021, the HOMEE Project published its findings from a more than one-year concurrent study of the 2019 Matera-Basilicata European Capital of Culture in the Urban heritage and mega-events: The case of Matera-Basilicata 2019 European Capital of Culture Report. As with the previous case studies developed during the project, a number of primary and secondary sources were utilized. Extensive fieldwork proved to be indispensable for approaching such a complex environment and avoiding typical simplification with the earliest visits taking place at the end of 2018 and continuing throughout 2019.

Zachary Jones contributed with a presentation regarding the HOMEE project to the 2021 “Megaevent2020 : City, Events, Mega-events and Tourism” conference of the Observatory of Research on Mega-Events (ORME) at the University Gustave Eiffel in May 2021.

On June 16, the Charter for Mega-Events in Heritage-Rich Cities was discussed during a special session entitled “The future of mega-events in historic cities. How to organise them using and safeguarding cultural heritage at the same time?” within the 6. Heritage Forum of Central Europe.

The Charter for Mega-events in Heritage-rich Cities, the final output of the project, was officially presented during the webinar Mega-events in heritage-rich cities: From research to principles and policy recommendations https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-charter-for-mega-events-in-heritage-rich-cities-launch-event-registration-157464756325?keep_tld=1 that took place on July 8, 2021. During the webinar sessions, leading international experts and policy-makers discussed the Charter and engaged with current and future challenges regarding mega-events, heritage and the city.

The closing event of the project, that was simultaneously a launch of the English version of the Charter, took place in Kraków on September 28, 2021. The discussion linked the Charter with the coming competition for the ECoC 2029 title in Poland.

Finally, there was an additional publication prepared: Events Through the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Europe link that summarised the impact of the pandemic on large cultural events and gave some impact into possible future scenarios.